On Tuesday, e-commerce startup Faire announced the close of its $400 million Series G funding round, which was co-led by Durable Capital Partners LP, D1 Capital Partners and Dragoneer Investment Group. This brings the four-year-old company’s total funding to over $1 billion, and sets its valuation to an impressive $12.4 billion.
E-commerce has been growing for years, but the industry exploded in growth over the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This mega-sized Series G shows the industry’s momentum, but it also shows that there are plenty of successful startups in the space beyond the e-commerce giants like Amazon.
Faire has created an online wholesale marketplace that connects independent retailers with thousands of artisans and brands, allowing them to stock their stores with the products that best fit their niche. Since its launch, Faire has grown its network to over 300,000 retailers and more than 40,000 brands.
With this scale, Faire has already reached $1 billion gross merchandise value — representing over 3x year-over-year growth. The company sold 125 million products in the last year.
Faire has already seen notable growth in its European and U.K. markets since launching there six months ago, surpassing $150 million in sales volume. The company points out that it took over three years for its platform to reach this volume in North America.
With that rapid growth, this new funding round will help Faire invest in further international expansion.
“Faire’s visionary leadership team is building a business that is truly in balance with all of its stakeholders, allowing emerging brands and independent retailers to do what they do best – create and sell products,” Anouk Dey, a partner at Faire investor Durable Capital Partners LP, said in a statement. “With their continued investment in the U.K., Europe and beyond, we believe that Faire will transform the global wholesale market.”
Faire also said that a portion of this funding will go toward growing its team. Faire has about 700 employees across its 10 global offices, but the company said that it plans to double that number in the next year. This will involve hiring for roles across the board, in order to help scale its business across the world.
“With our global reach, Faire is providing an even greater opportunity for the independent retail community to compete against big-box giants,” Faire CEO and co-founder Max Rhodes said in a statement. “By removing the traditional growth hurdles our customers face, we have enabled more opportunities, more connections and more possibilities for the entrepreneurs who use the platform. Our ability to deliver local and cross-border demand to brands, and in turn offer retailers access to a more expansive, data-driven selection is how Faire will define the future of retail.”
